NASA Successfully Deciphered the Strange Sound of the Universe

Discovered by ultra-sensitive radio equipment from the 1950s, the mysterious outer space sound called "Whistler waves" was finally deciphered successfully by NASA scientists after nearly seven decades. This article explains the key facts and context behind whistler waves.

Key Facts About Whistler Waves

Strange sound "Whistler waves" - Challenge scientists more than 6 years. Source: NASA.

After collecting data from two satellites of the FIREBIRD II CubeSat mission of the University of Minnesota, USA, flying at a height of 500 km above the ground and NASA's Van Allen Probes flying in the Van Allen Radiation Belt area, Scientists at NASA have found the source of this mysterious sound. Essentially, "Whistler waves" is a sound that travels at an extremely fast rate of electrons generated by sudden electron explosions in the Earth's magnetic field.

Aaron Breneman, an expert at the University of Minnesota, said: ". There is a need for continuous observation of two or more satellites / spacecraft located at a distance to observe the sequence of events occurring between waves and electrons occur in space, and two NASA satellites and the University of Minnesota have done that and successfully deciphered the sound mystery over the past 60 years. ".

Why Whistler Waves Matters

Photo of the construction of Van Allen's Radiant (blue) Belt. The radiation belt consists of two layers: The inner layer consists of electrons, the outer layer consists of protons.(Source: Tony Phillips / NASA.)

Scientists say, outside the space surrounding the Earth, is a "field" of particles with high charge, not an empty space. The electrons, protons and atomic ions come from the Sun and are trapped in the Earth's magnetic field to form a belt known by scientists as Van Allen.

Van Allen radiation belt, discovered in 1958 by space expert James Van Allen. This is a region of space at an altitude of 1,000-60,000 km, surrounding our Earth with different levels of radiation. Until now, scientists have not been able to know what happened at Van Allen.

This study is published in Geophysical Review Letters.